Once I ate a Pie

by: Patricia MacLachlin and Emily MacLachlin Charest
Ages: 5-8

It's truly a dog's life through fabulous portraits of many different breeds and amazing poems that tell the stories that all dogs seem to want so badly to share. From Gus, Abby and Mr. Beefy (who once ate pie), the book takes the stories of dogs and expresses them through creative word play in poems. Each page shows an adorable illustration of a different dog along with a poem that describes what they have to share with the world. The words are big, small, colorful and are structured in a way that changes how the reader might "read them" aloud. It is a GREAT choice for a read aloud to kids and could be used by taking turns seeing how each person might read each page differently. I would highly recommend this book to beginning poetry writers because it makes poems more understandable and accessible to kids. Poetry does not have to rhyme (truly an epiphany that I had as a child) and it can be as creative as you (the writer) decide.